Well, that is some sort of "load equalizing hitch," not to be confused with an Equal-I-Zer hitch.

You should have some type of load binder device that hooks the chains from the spring bars to the tongue frame rails.

Man, without knowing what capacity those load bars are, I'd have a hard time advising you much of anything on this setup. I saw a hitch made by Blue Ox once that looked kind of like this one, but I doubt the Ox was as old as this one.

One thing, your safety chains look WAY undersized. Maybe it's the scale of the photo, but just looking at it...the links don't look stout enough. The deal with them is that if the hitch breaks, the chains are supposed to be strong enough to hold the trailer to your tow vehicle. Those chains look like they'd snap pretty easily.

You might want to consider junking that whole hitch and getting a new one. You can buy a new Equal-I-Zer or a Reese Dual Cam for under $1K if you shop around. They're not hard to set up. I can't say enough about safety in having a good hitch.

But if you can figure out what you've got there, it may be perfectly fine. Just take your time and be careful.

Well, that is some sort of "load equalizing hitch," not to be confused with an Equal-I-Zer hitch.

You should have some type of load binder device that hooks the chains from the spring bars to the tongue frame rails.

Man, without knowing what capacity those load bars are, I'd have a hard time advising you much of anything on this setup. I saw a hitch made by Blue Ox once that looked kind of like this one, but I doubt the Ox was as old as this one.

One thing, your safety chains look WAY undersized. Maybe it's the scale of the photo, but just looking at it...the links don't look stout enough. The deal with them is that if the hitch breaks, the chains are supposed to be strong enough to hold the trailer to your tow vehicle. Those chains look like they'd snap pretty easily.

You might want to consider junking that whole hitch and getting a new one. You can buy a new Equal-I-Zer or a Reese Dual Cam for under $1K if you shop around. They're not hard to set up. I can't say enough about safety in having a good hitch.

But if you can figure out what you've got there, it may be perfectly fine. Just take your time and be careful.

Best of luck,

Yeah, I need a better setup, but I just need to get this to work for a trip to the local Airstream shop. The photo does make the chains look skimpy. They are much more heavy-duty than they appear here.

Well, that is some sort of "load equalizing hitch," not to be confused with an Equal-I-Zer hitch.

You should have some type of load binder device that hooks the chains from the spring bars to the tongue frame rails.

Man, without knowing what capacity those load bars are, I'd have a hard time advising you much of anything on this setup.

Jim is right you are missing the "binder" thingys that are part of the other part bolted to the A frame tongue. The chains hook on and the gizmo is lifted and locked tensioning the chain.

The purpose of the hitch is to equalize the load but this class is commonly called a weight distributing hitch.

The hitch may be OK, at least until you figure out what you want and/or need. Ditto on the chains. They may be big enough but old and have a lot of tension placed on them. Ditto on the rating of the spring bars.

Take the hitch to a good and older hitch dealer. They will be able to tell you about the spring bars and may have your missing parts.

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